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Commentary on "God the Lawgiver"
Day 4: Tuesday, February 7, 2012 - The Sabbath Before Sinai
Today the author’s purpose is to show that the Sabbath commandment to rest was given on the 7th day of creation.
The question is posed: What does this passage (Genesis 2:1-3) teach us about the Sabbath before Sinai?
Correct answer:
- God rested
- He didn’t command anyone else to rest or keep it holy.
- The rest did not end. He did not go back to creating. It was finished. He rested from all His work.
Via Ellen White, Adventists have internalized that the Sabbath at creation was given to Adam and Eve as a gift of fellowship with the Creator. They believe that the patriarchs kept the Sabbath and the Israel knew to keep it, even while they were in Egyptian captivity. There is no biblical evidence for any of this.
The first mention of Sabbath is in Exodus 16 where the children of Israel are told not to gather manna on the 7th day. A few chapters later, they are told to “Remember...”. Yeah, they knew about it at Sinai, because they had just experienced it with the manna.
The author next tries to establish that Pharaoh was refusing to give Israelites a Sabbath by allowing them to go worship in the wilderness.
Instead of assuming that the word that Pharaoh uses for rest refers to the 7th day Sabbath, it would be more accurate to understand that the word Sabbath means rest. (Was Pharoah speaking Hebrew when he supposedly uses the verb root for the word “Sabbath”?)
For a richer understanding of this passage, lets read it in context and contrast it with the words of Jesus in Matthew 11.
First Exodus 5:1-9:
1 Afterward Moses and Aaron went and said to Pharaoh, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness.’” 2 But Pharaoh said, “Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the LORD, and moreover, I will not let Israel go.” 3 Then they said, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go a three days' journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God, lest he fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword.” 4 But the king of Egypt said to them, “Moses and Aaron, why do you take the people away from their work? Get back to your burdens.” 5 And Pharaoh said, “Behold, the people of the land are now many, and you make them rest from their burdens!” 6 The same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people and their foremen, 7 “You shall no longer give the people straw to make bricks, as in the past; let them go and gather straw for themselves. 8 But the number of bricks that they made in the past you shall impose on them, you shall by no means reduce it, for they are idle. Therefore they cry, ‘Let us go and offer sacrifice to our God.’ 9 Let heavier work be laid on the men that they may labor at it and pay no regard to lying words.”
Matthew 11:28-30.
Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
There are several reasons given in the Bible for why the Sabbath command was of particular significance to the Israelites. “Remember that you were once slaves in Egypt, but the LORD your God brought you out with his strong hand and powerful arm. That is why the LORD your God has commanded you to rest on the Sabbath day” (Deuteronomy 5:15). In other words, you just got through working slaving, non-stop, all of your lives. Trust me that I will provide for you, even as I give you rest from your labor. Acknowledge me as God.
It’s the same message that we are given in Hebrews 3 and 4 when are told to enter God’s rest TODAY. We truly REST from our attempt to be made right with God through lawkeeping, by RESTing in Jesus’ finished WORK on the Cross. He is our Sabbath rest.
Jesus is the fulfillment of this command and we don’t continue keeping law-based sabbaths for the same reason that we don’t continue offering a sacrificial lamb every time we sin.
Once again, today we find the author building a theological case based on assumptions and missing the beauty of the contrast between what the plight of the Israelites slaves, the rest that Sabbath represented when it was given as part of the law, and the promise that Jesus offers us.
Here’s what we know for sure: There is no mention of Sabbath-keeping before the manna falls in Exodus 16.
Question to consider
- The day ends asking the reader how they can have a “deeper and richer experience with the Lord through the gift of His Sabbath day.” The Teacher’s Edition suggests this question: “How can you make God’s law become a larger part of your everyday life?”
- How would your spiritual life be different if you rested in Jesus completely?
- Is there anything keeping you from being able to fully surrender to the Spirit in your everyday life?
Copyright 2012 BibleStudiesForAdventists.com. All rights reserved. Revised February 6, 2012. This website is published by Life Assurance Ministries, Glendale, Arizona, USA, the publisher of Proclamation! Magazine. Contact email: BibleStudiesForAdventists@gmail.com.
The Sabbath School Bible Study Guide and the corresponding E.G. White Notes are published by Pacific Press Publishing Association, which is owned and operated by the Seventh-day Adventist church. The current quarter's editions are pictured above.
Official Adventist Resources
Standard Edition Study Guide Week 6
Teacher's Edition Study Guide Week 6
Easy Reading Edition Study Guide Wk 6
Search the Complete Published Ellen G. White Writings
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